Why not change to a tracker mortgage?

Why not change to a tracker mortgage?
Fixed-rate home loans may be in mode, but with a reduction
in rates imminent it would be advisable to consider the
tracker option instead. Fixed-rate mortgages have been very
popular in recently but with all the talk about interest
rate cuts, a tracker mortgage could be the way to go.

Even though interest rates were kept on hold last month,
there are indications that the short and long term trend is
downward. A tracker mortgage would be a sensible option as
it follows the movements of the Bank Of England base rate.

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, fixed rate
mortgages reached a peak in August 2007 and they accounted
for almost 80% of all mortgages taken out in the UK.

Fixed rate mortgages appeal to those who want to know
exactly how much their repayments will be each and every
month and are an attractive option in circumstances where
there is an upward trend in the interest rates. However,
most experts now agree that the interest trend will be
downward therefore the tracker mortgage will be the most
appealing as many will worry about fixing an interest rate
at the peak of it's cycle.

A tracker mortgage is named in this way since it tracks the
movements of the base interest rate from the Bank Of
England. In effect it calculates the mortgage repayment
based on the base rate of the day and adds a fixed
percentage to this rate. So as interest rates fluctuate the
mortgage payments move accordingly. This could be deemed an
ideal mortgage when the trend of interest is downward.
Since, when the Bank Of England rate falls the mortgage
payment also falls. The amount that is charged over the
base rate will vary from lender to lender.

With tracker mortgages you can choose to have a fixed
period, such as two or three years, where the mortgage
interest rate will track the Bank of England base rate.
Once this period had expired the mortgage will revert back
to the standard variable interest rate charged by the
lender.

With this kind of mortgage there are the options to revert
to a tracker for a fixed period which is usually 2 or 3
years. During this period the mortgage repayment will be
based upon the base rate from the Bank Of England. After
the agreed tracker rate period expires then the mortgage
will revert to the standard variable rate. The advantage of
choosing this product during a period of interest rate cuts
is that your repayments will decrease during this period
and after the expiry date you can review your options again.

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Graham Bradlington is the marketing manager for Quickly
Finance Limited, a company which specialise in Fast track
Secured Loan & Remortgage applications for homeowners.
Quickly Finance is 100% independent & can search the whole
market for the best deals... quickly! For more info:
http://www.quicklyfinance.com

What is FICO score ?

What is FICO score ?
Ever wonder what a FICO score stands for? Obviously, this
is a credit score, but who determines what that score will
be, and what does FICO mean? By taking learning more about
the Fair Isaac Corporation, some of these questions can be
answered.

In 1956, and engineer by the name of Bill Fair and a
mathematician known as Earl Isaac founded the Fair Isaac
Corp., or FICO. FICO originally provided consulting and
decision management services, but in 1981 they developed a
system for scoring the amount of risk associated with
making certain loans and investments. The FICO score is a
number generated from an individual's credit history. By
statistically analyzing this report, the FICO system
assigns a value to the likelihood that an individual will
pay their debts. This value is noted by banks and other
lending institutions when determining the interest rates
and other characteristics of a loan, helping them to make
accurate and profitable lending decisions.

So is FICO a credit bureau? The answer is yes and no. It
seems we have all heard of the credit bureaus that gather
information about our debts and assign us credit scores. In
actuality, they are not credit bureaus at all. FICO and the
other similar companies are not associated with the
government but are in fact publicly traded companies known
as credit reporting agencies. Out of these companies such
as Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, FICO is the most
known and widely used credit-scoring agency in the United
States.

The Fair Isaac Corporation is headquartered in Minneapolis,
Minnesota but has offices throughout five of the 7 major
continents and turns a revenue of over $800 million dollar
per year. Beyond producing credit scores, their over 3,500
employees provide consulting and management services to
more than 200 international retailers, 99 of the top 100 US
banks, and over 100 international telecommunications
companies. FICO has become a cornerstone for the entire
American economy.

Getting your fico score is easy. You can buy your score
directly from FICO or you can receive a free credit score
report from various online providers. Once you know your
score, you can quickly assess what kinds of lending options
might be available. A score of 720 or higher is considered
worthy credit, or good credit, while anything that drops
below a 600 is considered bad credit. With bad credit you
will pay more in interest on loans and have more difficult
qualifying for certain loan packages. There are many things
you can do to improve your score, but the best one is to
simply pay you debts.

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http://www.my720fico.com is the leading resource on the web
for credit reports and credit scores. We should know since
we are lenders.